Social networking sites evolve into powerful job-hunting tools

Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (MCT) - Ken Webb initially joined LinkedIn for the same reason anyone would want to join a social networking site _ to keep in touch with friends and former work colleagues.

But as Webb, a former operations manager at Plato Learning, struggled to find a job, he soon realized that LinkedIn offered ways to electronically network with people who could provide valuable insight and connections to prospective employers.

"When I see a job opening, before I even write a cover letter, I go to LinkedIn," said Webb, of Minneapolis. "Knowing how crowded the job market is now, I don't know if it's even worth applying if I can't get an 'in'" with the company.

As the country's recession deepens and millions of Americans swell unemployment rolls, workers are turning to professional networking sites such as LinkedIn to search a dwindling pool of jobs.

Over the past several years, millions of people have flocked to social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, which allow users to post messages, share photos, music and videos, and update friends and family on everything from weddings to musings on politics and weather.

The sites' growing popularity has moved beyond mere entertainment. Just as artists can instantly distribute content to a global audience, companies realize they also can tap a broad pool of talent. LinkedIn now boasts profiles from more than 30 million professionals around the world.

Corporate recruiters increasingly are scouring professional networking sites such as LinkedIn, looking for the best candidates through references and recommendations. But a personal connection is still the most powerful lure.

"It's common knowledge today that (human resources) people collect resumes in databases that take them forever to pull up the candidates," said Lisa Hendrickson, manager of LinkedIn Minnesota, a network of LinkedIn users in the state. "A hiring manager does not want to go through a database of 200 applications. They will, but they don't want to. They would rather know someone who knows someone."

Hendrickson, owner of Call That Girl, a Minneapolis-based computer repair business, recently founded Project: Link It Forward, which provides free monthly LinkedIn workshops to professionals seeking jobs.

"What we are teaching you is to get the resume to the hiring person or the HR person," Hendrickson said. "Five years ago, we did not have tools like LinkedIn to help find work. That's why LinkedIn is so prevalent now. It works."

According to a survey by Robert Half International, 62 percent of executives say sites such as LinkedIn will prove useful in recruiting job candidates over the next three years. Another 35 percent said they also plan to tap Facebook and MySpace. Robert Half, a staffing firm that specializes in finance and accounting, polled 150 senior executives from the country's 1,000 largest companies.

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"It still is quite challenging to find qualified workers," said Kami Schneiderman, a Minneapolis-based regional vice president for Robert Half. LinkedIn "is a good way to tap into additional contacts."

A person found through networking "tends to be a stronger candidate than a blind job seeker," Schneiderman said.

LinkedIn allows users to post resumes and search companies and job openings. But its real value is allowing people to "link" with other users whose own links may prove useful to the job seeker. For example, a software designer seeking a job at Microsoft can link with a friend who's linked to his college roommate whose fiance happens to be the company's vice president of product development.

In 2007, Webb quit his job at Plato Learning, where he supervised a team of techies who fulfilled online software orders. He planned to move to New York because his wife landed a job at American Home Mortgage Investment. But that company filed for bankruptcy, forcing Webb to job hunt in Minnesota.

He landed an interview with an online high school. To prepare for it, Webb used LinkedIn to search for people who used to work at the company. He eventually found a woman who was one of the company's first hires. Although she didn't know Webb, the woman proved useful, he said.

"Most people will help because it doesn't cost them anything" other than time, Hendrickson said. "You can meet so many people now that you never had access to before. And it's acceptable. ... People are on LinkedIn because of a reason. They didn't make the account for fun."

Hendrickson said she decided to offer free workshops because so many people who had been laid off were contacting her about how to use LinkedIn.

"I want them to feel happy when they leave," she said. "That they are going to go out and kick some ass now because now they have millions of people to connect to."

Catten Ely, a technical writer who recently attended the workshop, lost her job when her company restructured in June.

"I was aware that (LinkedIn) was huge," said Ely of Coon Rapids, Minn. "I wasn't aware of what it could do. I didn't see the value of finding a job until I lost my job. If I know more people, then I increase my chances at finding that job than if I didn't know somebody."

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© 2009, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)